Toronto Maple Leafs

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• Remember the Eastern Conference?

  For the season ticket holder, the schedule is like your road map and your bible for the coming 8 or 9 months. Travel schedules, any appointments.. social engagements…all answered with “Do we have a game that day?” It’s a wonderful thing. And we don’t have to see the Pacific division 8 times each! See the Stars schedule [...]

• You Know You?re In the Middle of Summer When

  …the identity of the Sharks’ third assistant coach is the biggest news of the day.  Day?  Hell, that’s the biggest news of the week.  Trent Yawney we heard about before- ok, that’s a guy I watched play, and watched coach in Chicago.  Then, Jay Woodcroft’s name was leaked.  I guess he was the ‘video coach’ [...]

• Toews Named Captain

  Jonathan Toews has been named the 34th captain in team history. At just shy of 21 years old Jonathan will become the 3rd youngest captain for an NHL franchise. Toews was the 3rd overall draft pick in the 2006 entry draft, and last year led all rookies with 24 goals including 7 on the power [...]

• Dog Days

  Nothing much happening in the hockey world at this, the nadir of the NHL calendar. A couple of things worth mentioning. The recent NC Sports Poll has caused quite a stir among Canes fans, primarily due to the possibly disturbing fact that a solid 18% of those polled being entirely ignorant of the team’s [...]

• Larionov, soap operas and glass art?

  Canuck fans would probably like to note that former Vancouver playmaker and Stanley Cup winner Igor Larionov has signed on to be the Director of Hockey Operations with SKA St. Petersburg of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), competing in the Tarasov Division. The 47-year-old is adding to his illustrious career and I wish him well. [...]

• Lack of agreement has certain implications

  The fact that the four major parties involved in the Zurich meetings held by the IIHF (International Ice Hockey Federation) between the KHL (Kontinential Hockey League-Russia) and the NHL/NHLPA were all well represented by big-time persons involved is one good sign. Now for the bad. Just days later, six NHL contracts are held in [...]

• TSN Quoting The Swedish Eklund - Why Do We Care?

  TSN earlier today posted a story saying that Sundin had “signed” with the Vancouver Canucks. Unfortunately this is mainly due to the fact that TSN has nobody on staff that can either read Swedish OR figure out how to use the translate function for web-pages through Google. While I am not fluent in Swedish, here [...]

• Sundin Saga

  TSN reported earlier this morning that Mats Sundin had agreed to sign with the Canucks, but it was later reported that he has not put the pen to the paper and that the report is simply false. Claes Elefalk, Sundin’s Swedish reporesentative, and JP Barry, his agent, have both denied the report, and claimed that [...]

• Episode 6 - E I E I O (Oh?)?

  If this were the classic children’s song, and ol’ MacDonald had a (Senators prospect) farm, you had better hope it was a short car ride, because frankly, ol’ MacDonald aint got a lot to sing about down on his farm. If you were to restrict your analysis to the oft quoted, but even more dubious opinions [...]

• Ryder for Tanguay

  The departure of ufa Michael Ryder and the addition of Alex Tanguay is a reflection in the growth and improvement of the Montreal Canadiens. In essence, Ryder’s skill set was no longer sufficent to keep up with development of the Canadiens. Tanguay’s abilities are represenative of an elite level skill player. Ironically, back in January, [...]

• Sabres sign Miller and other quick hits

  Wow! Color me impressed! Not that the signing happened, but that it happened this fast. Ryan Miller signed for a 5-year extension at $6.25 million per. The money was not surprising either…probably a little more than he deserved, I thought he should be closer to Huet than Lundqvist. But honestly, the Sabres front office needed [...]

• More on Khabibulin, O?Neill Comeback?

  Nikolai Khabibulin is the most tossed around name these days, and with the Sens and Kings interested, the Lightning have apparently entered the rumour mill as well. Should the Lightning re-acquire Khabibulin (and that’s a big if), they will definitely have to part ways with either Mike Smith or Karri Ramo, or even both, along [...]

• Defense in the Eastern Conference

  A couple days ago I asked who were the best defensemen in the eastern conference and which teams had the best group of defensemen in the conference. The results are in and it seems Zdeno Chara is the consensus pick for the best defenseman in the eastern conference. After him Sergei Gonchar, Jay [...]

• back to the tradition?.nearly

  The NHL released it’s schedule today for the upcoming season. The Philadelphia Flyers will be at GM Place on December 30th to renew (in a way) the New Years’ Eve clash that was a pre-lockout staple in Vancouver. I remember that my sister Tracy took me to a game a number of years [...]

• Thoughts of the Day

  Thanks for listening to the podcast- the number of listeners for the latest episode is going up quickly.  Only we could be dumb savvy enough to start a hockey podcast after the Stanley Cup finals are over.  I guess there are more hockey-starved fans than we thought. The full schedule is out today, so some quick [...]

• Isles list of potential coaches long, all over map

   Now, depending on who you read and which NHL insiders you know, the next coach of the Islanders will be someone who is accepting of a massive youth movement. No, wait, he’ll have to be able to deal with disgruntled veterans. Hold it. That’s not it either. I got it. I think. He’ll have to be [...]

• Kings Enter Fray

  Updating on the apparent blockbuster in the Chicago-Ottawa deal, it looks like the Kings have jumped into the mix. Yes, that’s right, the Kings. Apparently, the Kings are willing to give up Anze Kopitar to Chicago, in the hopes of landing Andrej Meszaros and Martin Gerber, while the Sens would get Nikolai Khabibulin and either [...]

• DOH Episode 4 Available

  Link here, feed here. The fact that it was a fairly slow week was spruced up by the fact that I almost broke the entire Dudes on Hockey site tonight. Some people are obsessive deleters (like they delete every email immediately after they read it) and I’m an obsessive updater. There was [...]

• Why are ice girls so trashy looking?

  ….And other summer fun. -Dave Tippett extended 2 years, for a total of 3 seasons more.  I think there might be an option for a 4th year if he brings back the “stache”: No comment on that from the Tippett camp as of yet. What does this really mean? Not much. It’s obvious that the Stars feel [...]

• Question on Defense in the Eastern Conference

  I don’t think anyone can deny that many of the top defensemen are in the western conference (Lidstrom, Pronger, Niedermayer, Phaneuf, etc). This off season Brian Campbell and Dan Boyle found new permanent homes in the western conference. Some of the better young defensemen/prospects are in the western conference as well (Jack Johnson, [...]

• Interesting tidbits

  Two semi-interesting things surfaced today, courtesy of Luke DeCock over at the News and Observer. First round draft pick Zach Boychuk needed surgery to repair a wrist injury sustained during the WHL playoffs. The three month rehab time means he will still be well less than 100% come training camp. I wonder how [...]

• Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err.

  I bet most of you didn’t know Ghandi was a big hockey fan now did you? I think what he might have been trying to say in this quote, is that, although free to do as they choose, RFA’s are still faced with the intrinsic risk of making the wrong choice, in the exercising [...]

• Officially in the Doldrums Now

  After the Ehrhoff and Goc signings, we are officially in the doldrums territory of the offseason.  Clowe is the only player left of any consequence unsigned, but reportedly there is a deal in progress.  Clearly this is the worst part of the year, hockey-wise.  Good thing we have the podcast for those hockey-starved fans out [...]

• Scrambling Senators

  After being spurned by Jason Williams, who signed with Atlanta for $2.2m/year, the Sens have appeared to re-focus on signing Andrej Meszaros and Antoine Vermette. However, with the recent difficulties in contract negotiations with the pair, which appear to have hit a snag, there are rumours that Bryan Murray could be dealing both away in [...]

• Random Thoughts

  No new news from Raleigh, though the News and Observer did run this nice piece on prospect Brandon Sutter. Sutter is the Cane’s best prospect, and is more than likely to make the team this fall. My other thoughts revolve around two recent firings. First, our southeast rivals Tampa Bay parted ways [...]

• Is Ryan Hollweg Smarter Than A 5th Rounder?

  Ok, so the Leafs dealt a 5th round pick in the 2009 draft.  Admittedly it was Pittsburgh’s pick, so it’s unlikely to be high in the round, but seriously? They traded a 5th rounder next year for an 8th round choice that has 12 career points in 200 career NHL games.  But what he lacks [...]

• BREAKING NEWS: Nolan out on Long Island

  The Associated Press is reporting Ted Nolan has been fired by the New York Islanders. The team’s official Web site has confirmed the move. General Manager Garth Snow on Nolan’s ouster: “Ted has helped us achieve some success over the last two seasons, however it has become clear that we have philosophical differences and have decided together [...]

• A tale of 3 Taylors

  The Canucks find themselves with a new GM, some important new players, new player development types and have a pan on the stove with Mats Sundin. They should be ready to pounce on Brian Gionta, if a trade is able to be consummated. In the following article, I would like to discuss the [...]

• Flames, Canucks, Senators Seek Offense

  Brian Gionta is strongly rumoured to be on the move, with possible destinations in the West, including Calgary and Vancouver as the front-runners. The Devils are looking to add to their defensive corps and is willing to sacrifice the former 40-goal man to land a top 4 defenseman. Both Calgary and Vancouver have the luxury [...]

• le Prez - An Expert?s Audit

  Welcome once again to “An Expert’s Audit”.  This audit will also be posted here as well as on my fantasy hockey blog at www.fantasyhockey.hockeyanalysis.com .  During the season I also do weekly reviews of teams for people who email in to me for a look-see.  These audits will continue to appear here monthly and if [...]